


Irish Myth Haikus

by Wilusa



Category: Irish Mythology
Genre: Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-17
Updated: 2012-06-17
Packaged: 2017-11-07 23:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/436786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wilusa/pseuds/Wilusa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A set of five haikus portaying larger-than-life characters who participated in a mythic Irish war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Irish Myth Haikus

_Fergus:_

x

Betrayed and traitor,

I take leave of all I know.

Seek death, and find love.

x

x

x

_Cuchulain:_

x

Kin of the blood hound,

I flee retching from the feast.

Hound blood stains my soul.

x

x

x

_Conor:_

x

The best have left me--

Driven away, driven mad.

I await the worst.

x

x

x

_Ailell:_

x

Chosen for weakness?

I see my wife betray me,

Strike her lover dead!

x

x

x

_Maeve:_

x

Conor, my old foe!

The playing field is leveled.

We'll both die alone.

x

x

x

 _ **Author's Afterword:**_ A brief explanation of this piece, which I wrote a decade ago.

Characters who loom large in legend, King Conor of Ulster and Queen Maeve of Connaught (western Ireland) were mortal enemies, who eventually took their tiny kingdoms to war. Since Ireland was a small island, where everyone spoke the same language and there was consderable travel, combatants often found themselves fighting their own kin.

Fergus, one of the most respected men in Ulster, was Conor's uncle. He'd had a better claim to the throne than Conor; but since Conor was more ambitious and actually _wanted_ to be king, Fergus had good-naturedly deferred to him.

But now Conor broke a promise he'd made to Fergus, in a deadly serious situation. His men wound up killing one of Fergus's adult sons, and inducing another to behave dishonorably. And there was more death and dishonor, beyond that. Fergus denounced his nephew and defected to Connaught, where he became Maeve's top general. And then...he and Maeve became lovers.

Back in Ulster, Conor should still have been able to rely on _his_ nephew, the young hero Cuchulain (thought to have been fathered by a god). But for a reason I won't go into here, Cuchulain believed he had a magical connection with hounds. Because of that, he was bound never to eat dog meat. Not that his people did eat dog meat! No one ate dog meat. But it was magically important that _he_ not eat it.

So, of course, an enemy tricked him into eating dog meat. And when he realized what he'd done, he became deranged. No longer of use to Conor, or anyone else.

I choose to interpret this symbolically. To think it was the fratricidal nature of the war--the realization that he'd been killing his own kin--that caused the sensitive Cuchulain to become deranged.

Now one of the two men Conor had trusted to lead and inspire his forces had been "driven away," the other "driven mad." The one who'd been driven away was commanding _Maeve's_ army.

But all was not well in Connaught. Maeve, the daughter of the previous king, had been barred from simply ascending the throne herself because of her sex. But she had been allowed to choose the man she'd marry. It had been understood that when her father died, her husband would become king, and she'd be his consort.

Maeve had chosen Ailell because she considered him the weakest of her suitors--a man she could dominate. She'd had every intention of ruling Connaught herself; and when the time came, she did.

But when the doubtless frustrated Ailell realized Maeve and Fergus were lovers, he caught Fergus off guard and murdered him!

So..."the playing field was leveled."

I assume Maeve had Ailell killed (or made sure he'd "die in combat"). The war dragged on, and eventually petered out; I don't think either side achieved a real victory.

Maeve was ultimately assassinated. And Conor? I find myself wanting to say he "stepped on a forgotten land mine"! Of course they didn't have land mines. But I seem to recall that according to legend, it was something analogous to that. He was killed by the explosion(?) of an old, forgotten weapon, possibly magical in nature. So the war claimed his life, years after it had ended.

A final thought: When I wrote these verses, I was picturing Sean Connery as Fergus, Patrick Stewart as Conor, and Tracy Scoggins as Maeve.


End file.
